Finding Destiny
by Xiliana
Summary: A girl is flung into the realm of Mirkwood ... will she find the past she never had? Legomance not a Mary Sue!
1. And So It Begins

**Chapter 1: And so it begins**

Xiliana picked her way through the dark woods. It was late, and she wanted to get home – not to her parents; she had never known them – but to Katie and John, the couple who had adopted her.

Xiliana sighed as she thought of her adopted parents, a sad look in her her emerald-green eyes. They weren't exactly the nicest people around – she knew perfectly well that they had never wanted a child, as they told her so frequently. There had been no one in the town to take her in, and John had owed someone in the town board a large favour, and besides, they received a reasonable amount of money each month for taking care of her until she turned eighteen – which was only a few weeks away. Xiliana stopped for a moment at the forest's edge, the breeze stirring the leaves on the ground and her long, flaming red hair, looking out into the darkness. What would become of her after that? She knew perfectly well that Katie and John would not have her in their house any longer than they had to.

Not wanting to go home quite yet, Xiliana sat down on a log, not caring whether her clothes got wet or dirty – they were old hand-me-downs anyway, all that her adopted parents were prepared to give her. They'll do, Katie had said, harshly, one day when Xiliana had asked, timidly, why she never got any new clothes like the other girls at school. They'll do for _you_.

Xiliana reached for the locket she always carried round her neck, opening it as she had done countless times before, to read, by the moonlight shining through the trees, the word written inside it: _Xiliana_. Tears stung her bright-green eyes as she ran her finger slowly over the word carved on the golden locket. _Xiliana_. The only thing she had from her parents, her real parents. Why had they left her at the edge of the forest that day, almost eighteen years ago, with nothing but this locket, the thing that gave her her name? What sort of people had they been? The locket was fine, one of the most wonderfully crafted pieces of jewellery she had ever seen ... they must have been rich, to give their child such a thing. But why had they not wanted her?

She sighed again, brushing a lock of her red hair behind her ears. Her ears ... they were one of the many things that caused her to be "that weird girl" that no one had ever wanted to play with, or be friends with – they were not round, the way everyone else's ears were, but came to a fine point. _"Like something out of one of those damned fantasy movies!" _her adopted father occasionally spat; they made her wear her hair long and untied, to hide her ears. Not that she minded – when she was younger, she had been picked on constantly for her ears. They were not something she liked to show.

But despite covering her ears, Xiliana had never made any friends – the shy girl in the corner, in her worn and torn old clothes, with her pointed ears, bright red hair, and shockingly green eyes, had always been the one the new kids learned quickly not to be seen with.

Xiliana glanced at her watch, starting. It was late ... she should be getting home. Her foster parents would be terribly angry with her if she was late home for dinner, they always were. _"Be home by eight, or there'll be trouble!"_ Katie had snapped after her, as she had left the house earlier that day. And Xiliana was careful always to be home at the right time, or there _was _trouble. But the time between the end of school and evening was the only time she could be at her favourite place – the library. She loved to immerse herself in books; all kinds of books, the longer the better. Xiliana loved to read.

But she would have to hurry now, or she wouldn't get home in time. Putting the locket away under her clothes, Xiliana got up from the log, but hesitated as she realised where she was. This was the very spot she had been found, nearly eighteen years ago. And there – there was the small hollow in the ground where they had found a baby lying, naked except for the locket. That was the spot where her parents had left her.

Crouching down, Xiliana knelt on the ground. Her clothes were dirty and torn anyway. Getting her locket out again, she held it in her hand, staring at the spot where she had been found. She was almost eighteen now, almost an adult. This spot marked the beginning of her childhood. She had sometimes dreamt that her parents, her real parents, would come back for her one day, but she was old enough now to know that that was never going to happen. Maybe it was best to put it behind her, to leave the locket and forget about it. Slowly, she reached out her hand over the hollow, and dropped the locket on the ground. It seemed almost to drop in slow-motion, the moonlight glinting off the fine, golden chain, the "clink" as it hit the ground seeming to echo all around her.

Xiliana stared at it for a moment, her green eyes sorrowful, before slowly getting to her feet again, turning to leave the woods, to leave the locket and with it, her dream of a better future, forever. She took a few steps before hesitating again, glancing back at the spot where she had left her locket. Her eyes widened.

The locket was gone. And in its place, the ground was glowing – literally glowing, not as if the sun was shining on it, but more, brighter, like it _was_ the sun, or as if the sun was shining out from under it. Xiliana turned, her eyes wide with shock and fear, unsure of what to do. What was happening? What had she done? Slowly, she moved towards the spot again, blinking in the bright light that emanated from it. Almost instinctively, she crouched down, reaching out her hand to touch the glowing ground.

She gasped. She felt as if her ears would split as the deafening sound of rushing wind surrounded her, her red hair whipping around her as she was caught in a hurricane. Everything was spinning, and she closed her eyes to try and steady herself and brace herself against the howling wind.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet – the bright light that had surrounded her went out as suddenly as it had begun, and Xiliana carefully opened her eyes ...


	2. Into Another World

Thanks for the reviews, everyone – I really appreciate them. And I don't know about the whole Mary-Sue thing ... I guess maybe Xiliana is a bit like a Mary-Sue, but hopefully she won't be more of a Mary-Sue than I'm trying to make her!

Oh, I realised I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter ... shame on me! Well, here it is:

I don't own the Lord of the Rings or anything connected to it, apart from Xiliana. Oh, and again, that is NOT Legolas locked in my closet ...

**Chapter 2: Into another world**

Xiliana gasped again, scrambling to her feet. She was not at the edge of the woods a little way from her home, from her foster parents. She was surrounded by trees, but they were not the familiar thin, weak-looking trees of her hometown ... these trees were huge, gnarled, black monstrosities, stretching up endlessly, it seemed, towards the sky – although when she looked up into the gloom, all she could see were more branches and leaves, making a solid canopy above her, through which no light came. The only source of light was coming from the ground ... Xiliana looked down, seeing her locket, which was casting a faint, golden light – similar to the one she had seen before ... whatever had happened, but fainter, and growing slowly fainter every minute. She picked it up, holding it close to her as she strained frantically to think where she could be.

She was in some sort of forest, she could see that – but it was no forest she knew. And the sounds that she could hear, somewhere out in the surrounding gloom, were no sounds she had ever heard before – odd hoots, the distant sound of snapping twigs, and a strange sort of chittering, rasping noise. Xiliana's eyes widened in fear as she realised that as the light from her locket grew fainter, the sounds came closer ...

She spun around, seeing something out of the corner of here eye – a movement. What was that? As her eyes grew accumstomed to the semi-darkness, she thought she could see something, large and black, out there, between the branches of the tree ... and it was big, at least as big as she was. She turned in another direction ... had there been another movement over there? Yes, she was sure she had seen a similar shape to the first one, over on her other side ... what were these things?

Trembling, Xiliana held the locket to her chest, trying to hold onto the quickly fading glow, which seemed to be all that was holding the creatures away – and she didn't think she wanted to know what they were.

The sound of a snapping twig off to her left brought Xiliana's attention elsewhere for a moment – and in that moment, one of the creatures out in the trees leapt.

Xiliana saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned back round with a cry of fear to see a giant spider, black and hairy, come hurtling out into her rapidly shrinking circle of twilight. She threw herself back, landing hard on the ground, her breath knocked out of her, the spider's heavy bulk just missing her. It chittered in what sounded like annoyance, and made to leap at her again. Just in time, Xiliana snatched up a branch that lay fallen beside her, thrashing wildly with it as the creature threw itself at her, fangs clicking and long legs flailing. It screeched, not having expected this counterattack, and pulled back from its suddenly less-harmless prey. Xiliana held onto the stick with all her might, trembling with terror. Giant spiders. _Giant spiders. _What sort of a place was this?

The light from the locket had almost gone out. Xiliana thought she could hear more chittering and scratching, the sound of more spiders, approaching out in the dark. How many of them were there? Could she defeat them? Not armed as she was with one stick …

The spider in front of her hissed and squeaked, almost as if it was threatening her. Xiliana kept her eyes on it the whole time. Maybe, if she didn't look away from it, she could escape up one of the trees … assuming these things couldn't climb. But it was worth a try –

Focused as she was on the spider in front of her, she didn't see the other one come creeping almost noiselessly up behind her. A small, sudden noise made her turn just as it leapt, landing on her and knocking her over, her branch thrown aside. Xiliana screamed, fighting to get the giant creature off her – but it was large, easily as large as a small horse, and very heavy. It snapped at her face with its sharp jaws, grazing her cheek. The graze burned as if someone had poured salt over it … did these things have poisonous bites? Xiliana wondered distantly, the thought seeming very far away and irrelevant as she fought to keep the giant spider from biting her head off.

It was getting hard to see … the light from the locket, lying where she had dropped it several feet away, was very nearly out. Soon, it would be completely dark, and she would not be able to see what she was doing or, more importantly, what the spider was doing …

Just as she thought she could not keep up the struggle any longer, a new light burst into the clearing, accompanied by the sound of galloping hooves. The two spiders screeched as if in pain, retreating into the trees – but not far into the trees. Xiliana lay on the ground, gasping. She had to get up … what if whoever, or whatever, was coming, was worse than the spiders …? She struggled to at least sit up, reaching for her fallen branch, just in time to see a horse and rider come hurtling through the trees and into the clearing, the light making the horse look dazzling white.

The horse reared as it entered the clearing, the rider's long, blonde hair whipping around his face as he leapt from the still-moving horse, drawing his bow and an arrow as he leapt, and aiming at the closest spider. The arrow flew from his bow almost before the spiders realized what was happening, striking one of them in the head, killing it.

The spider shrieked in pain and shock, collapsing, as its fellows hissed and chattered in outrage. The figure with the bow had drawn another arrow, holding it at the ready, and made his way over to Xiliana, though his pale-blue eyes were fixed on the spiders.

"Are you all right?" he asked her, keeping his gaze on the spiders, which hissed and clicked at him, but kept their distance from the light that hung at his belt.

Xiliana, who was struggling to her feet, looked at the newcomer. He was dressed in mostly browns and greens, his long, blonde hair tied back, revealing – Xiliana blinked – pointed ears. Like hers.

"I – I'm okay," she replied, shakily. The scratch on her cheek burnt terribly, but otherwise, she was mostly unharmed. The stranger glanced at her sharply, frowning in confusion – and at that moment, another spider leapt out from behind him.

"Look out!" Xiliana cried, but it was too late. The blonde newcomer whipped round quickly, but the spider had surprised him – he was bowled to the ground with a strangled cry, the spider shrieking triumphantly. Xiliana cried out as he was knocked down, but somehow, he managed to free himself from the tangle of spider's legs and pincers, and scramble back – and was backed against a tree.

Xiliana saw the fear in his eyes as he realized that he was far too close to the approaching spider to be able to use his bow. The others were closing in on them, and this time, they knew that there was no escape for their prey …

"No!" Xiliana cried. She saw the spider closest to the man rear up, ready to strike him a killing blow – and that would be the end for both of them, she knew. This was not the way it should end! It shouldn't! A strange, prickling sensation began in her hands, growing stronger as her determination grew, growing until it was almost painful. "You will not kill him!" she uttered, raising her hands threateningly. "You … will … not!"

Suddenly, she was thrown backwards, feeling as if all the energy had been torn from her body. A dazzling bolt of light shot from her raised hands towards the spider, which was flung back against the closest tree with a deafening shriek. It sagged to the base of the tree, twitching. It did not rise again.

As Xiliana staggered and fell towards the ground, she saw the other spiders retreating fast out into the forest – they had decided that this prey was beyond them. As everything went dark, she saw the now-familiar blonde stranger approach her, and the last thing she felt were a pair of strong arms picking her up.

Please review – is this too much of a Mary-Sue? Did you like it? Comments appreciated!


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